"Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Analysis--
This is another Wordsworth sonnet, and it really spoke to me because I felt like it differed from the other poetry by him we have read in class. This sonnet uses iambic pentameter and has the rhyme scheme ABCAABBA CDCDCD. Like other Wordsworth sonnets, the focus of this poem is nature. The setting is Wordsworth looking at the scenery around him (presumably from Westminster Bridge, hence the title), and feeling elevated and calm gazing around him. The octave is one idea, while the sestet is a separate but related idea. The speaker of the poem starts by expressing the beauty of the earth and states that the person who could pass by such a sight has a dull soul. This was probably my favorite line of the whole poem. It spoke to me because it insinuates that it takes a certain kind of soul to appreciate the beauty of nature, which I agree with. The next part is also beautiful because Wordsworth uses a metaphor to describe the city: "This City now doth like a garment wear/The beauty of the morning" (4-5). This created a beautiful image for me: a city landscape draped in the sunshine as if it was wearing it. He has already set up such a calming poem in those early lines.
Where the sonnet is different in my opinion is where Wordsworth describes the city. He lists "Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples" (6) as "bright and glittering in the smokeless air" (8). This is radically different from his other poetry because a city instead of straight nature. It's interesting to see this other side to Wordsworth, as if he can find beauty in anything, even cities. The city is clean (smokeless) and covered in sunshine, and Wordsworth states that he has "never felt, a calm so deep" (11). This last section of the poem is absolutely beautiful and full of striking imagery. The river gliding along at its own sweet will (12), the houses seeming to be asleep (13)... everything he says just paints an amazing picture of his surroundings. Even though he is in a city, Wordsworth still feels very connected to everything around him. He even creates a very vivid metaphor in the last line of the sonnet saying, "And all that mighty heart is lying still!" (14). Here I thought he was calling the city a mighty heart. This brought to mind images of a heart beating and pulsing with life, but since the city is empty the heart is lying still. This gives Wordsworth a calming feeling, and he is able to see the beauty within the city like he usually sees in natural surroundings.
Do you think Wordsworth is being critical is city dwellers at all in here? There's a sense in here that while the city is beautiful at this moment, no one--except the poet--is awake to appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteSorry... that should say "critical of city dwellers."
ReplyDeleteFabulous job Miss Krysta. I liked how you took each line and explained the beauty of what Wordsworth was seeing when he wrote this poem. Also your analysis of the last line makes a lot of sense. When I first read through the poem I was puzzled by the last line, "And all that mighty heart is lying still!" But your idea of the heart being like the city is well thought out. I feel like the heart is the structure of the city and the people are its pulse.
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